halides.......finally!
 

wow, after months of playing games and trying to find the perfect light, etc, etc, etc.... I finally got my halide light

It's a 150w HQI in a floodlamp .. 20k bulb. I am in love with the penetration and color, and everything about the halides. It makes my PC's seem so dull.

Anyhow, just wondering how many inches from the water surface I should keep the light, also.. are floodlamps safe to use? I am shocked with the heat it gives off already, I just plugged it in for 5 minutes and its hotter than my whole PC fixture .

anyways.. I'll be looking to find some clams and SPS now that I have proper lighting . If anyone can help me out, let me know :smile:

Scott

Pics, so we can see your new lights in action :biggrin:

cool....

I would put the light about 1 foot above water, or about as high you need it so evaporation won't be too intense. Get a fan, point it at top of water if the temp is going up too high.

Fixture
 

As stated earlier ... fan etc... but I think you'll be OK down to 8 inches, down to 4 inches if there's no splash or salt spray as long as you can transport the heat. I would see to it that none of your corals are closer than a foot to the light itself. I see no problems with using a halogen fixture retrofitted as they get quite hot as well. One thing to make sure of though is to use the glass as a UV shield as HQI bulbs aren't UV shielded.

So I am going to shoot for 4 inches... I want the most light I can get out of it. And because it's a flood lamp, the light does not disperse throughout the tank that great.. but still fairly well.

I have a fan in my room which I will keep running while the lights are on, it seems to make a difference. If that doesn't work well enough I will get a clip-on fan definitely.

There is a glass cover, but I dont think it's a UV shield... is this okay? Or am I going to run into problems?

Lastly, switching from 2x65w PC's to 150w HQI , are my corals going to get PO'd? When I was testing it out my zoanthids popped, they loved it.

Scott

I would acclimate your corals to the new brighter light.
Mounting it up higher for now would be a good way to go.
Then slowly move it down to your desired height.

or

Use the screen over the tank method.

Thanks Muck

I wasn't so sure becuase the initial reaction of the corals was good, they seemed to love it.

But..... I'd rather not burn and melt my corals.. so I'll try either of those methods.

How about the UV shield? Is it bad if I don't have one??

As far as I know all glass filters out UV. :biggrin:

Ohhh hahah

You learn something new every day.... :redface: :rolleyes:

Thanks Bob

reply
 

Is this a good thing or a bad thing for corals?